Songs The Best Songs Ever Written For Movies

List Rules Only songs that were written specifically for a movie (not songs that have just appeared in movies). Vote for the greatest songs.

The top theme songs to our favorite films are all ranked here and ready for your votes. Whether the song makes you "Happy" like Pharrell or "Lose Yourself" like Eminem, these songs are forever ingrained in the history of both music and film as a result of their popularity and greatness. Which songs that were written for movies are the best?

"Let It Go," made Idina Menzel (or Adele Dazeem, according to John Travolta), is now one of the most popular songs in the world. These best songs written for movies not only won Grammys, but also Academy Awards and Golden Globes. From the Oscar-winning Three 6 Mafia song "Hard Out Here for a Pimp" to Will Smith's "Men in Black" theme song, these songs will take you back to the movies from which they came. Vote up all of your favorite movie theme songs, and if you don't see your favorite on here, be sure to add it.

list ordered by

1

353 100

The ultimate pump up song and staple of everyone's "Gym Playlist," this 1982 hit belongs to Rocky III. One of the best-selling singles in the history of the universe, "Eye of the Tiger" was voted VH1's 63rd greatest hard rock song of all time.

2

341 109

The anthem of 8 Mile and pretty much all of 2002, "Lose Yourself" was Eminem's first single from the movie's soundtrack. Its 23 weeks on top of the world made its mark in the Guinness Book of World Records as the "Longest Running Single at Number One for a Rap Song."

"Stayin' Alive" was the theme song from Saturday Night Fever. The Bee Gees classic of 1977 landed as #189 on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.

4

218 95

Coolio won the MTV VMA for Best Video from a film and the entire 1990s with "Gangsta's Paradise." Co-written by Stevie Wonder, the song was the best-selling single of 1995 thanks to the movie Dangerous Minds.

5

234 113

Randy Newman recorded the theme song to the entire Toy Story franchise in 1995. Pixar should be grateful to him, and co-writer Lyle Lovett, for their Oscar and Golden Globe nominations in the Best Original Song category.

Berlin wrote this love song for 1986's Top Gun. Giorgi Moroder and Tom Whitlock wrote the tune for the Tom Cruise movie and got both the Oscar and Golden Globe for Best Original Song.

9

230 138

"Happy" was such a hit from the movie Despicable Me 2 (2013) that even Weird Al's parody of it, "Tacky," went viral. Pharrell's song was nominated for a 2014 Academy Award and became the world's first 24-hour music video.

Will Smith's song "Men in Black" played in Will Smith's movie Men in Black during the end credits. Smith garnered a Grammy Award in 1998 for Best Rap Solo Performance.

13

182 144

"Let It Go" did not just make Idina Menzel and John Travolta go viral at the Oscars, but it made the Frozen soundtrack an absolute hit. This 2014 Academy Award-winning Disney song has led to a pop version by singer and actress Demi Lovato.

Written for the main characters of the 2018 movie, A Star is Born, Lady Gaga teams with co-star Bradley Coooper (yes, he sings on the track).

16

96 101

Ellie Goulding recorded and released this steamy song for Fifty Shades of Grey in 2015.

17

111 129

"Everything Is Awesome," or as it often written, "Everything Is AWESOME!!!" comes from The Lego Movie (2014). You can thank Tegan and Sara, as well as The Lonely Island, for performing this Mark Mothersbaugh-produced gem that the International Business Times called a parody of "creeping fascism."

Public Enemy wrote this hit for Spike Lee's Do the Right Thing. As the 1989 movie's theme song, "Fight the Power" was included in Time magazine's list of the All-TIME 100 Songs.

20

75 123

Taylor Swift and T-Bone Burnett wrote a song with The Civil Wars for The Hunger Games (2012). The result? "Safe and Sound," a single so popular that it garnered a Golden Globe nomination in 2013 for Best Original Song.

Alongside the film version of the track, Lady Gaga's "I'll Never Love Again" (featuring Bradley Cooper) was featured in A Star Is Born (2018).

22

46 83

The Canadian dark R&B producer The Weeknd wrote and released this song as a single for the Fifty Shades of Grey soundtrack.

23

69 121

2000's Charlie's Angels not only starred three of the world's sexiest women, but its theme song was performed by the world's other three sexiest. Destiny's Child released "Independent Women, Part 1," and it became the 18th most successful song of the entire 2000s.

24

48 104

"Falling Slowly" comes from Once, the 2007 Irish musical movie about friends writing songs together. Songwriters / actors Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova won the Academy Award for Best Original Song in 2008.